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Clarifying medical comparison

OMA confuses its self-interest with health care, Opinion July 22

Mon., July 23, 2012

Re: OMA confuses its self-interest with health care, Opinion July 22

The column by Charles Pascal requires a lot of clarification. While a doctors organization can add to the public discourse regarding health care, my reading of the public announcements of both the CMA and the OMA does just that. However comparing remuneration results obtained by doctors and nurses is like comparing apples and oranges.

The ONA obtains compulsory arbitration for its registered nurses when each contract expires and is awarded increases in wages and benefits that have always been at or above the increase in the rate of inflation. I’m aware of this as I was on the board of a major teaching hospital where the nursing costs represented 70 per cent of the total budget.

I’m not complaining but I think that doctors should be treated somewhat similarly. Instead, the government periodically allows the OMA to raise doctor fees according to the percentage increase they have determined. These amounts have not come close to the increase in inflation over a lengthy period.

In addition and most importantly, doctor fees do not equate to income. They must pay all of their expenses out of these fees before retaining income for themselves. When the government asks them to give up 2 per cent of their fees, and since their expenses don’t go down 2 per cent, this means that their remuneration goes down more than that. Who else is being asked to do that?

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I do agree that some specialties have benefited due to improvements in technology but this does not apply to the majority, especially when at least 40 per cent of doctors are family doctors.

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